The present invention relates to a reverse shift mechanism for power transmission units, and more particularly to a reverse shift mechanism for a power transmission unit of the type in which a reverse idler gear is arranged to be brought into engagement with a reverse drive gear and a reverse output gear thereby to provide a reverse drive power path.
In such conventional power transmission units, the reverse output gear is arranged on an output mainshaft to be positioned in a common vertical plane with the drive gear under neutral condition of the transmission unit, and the reverse idler gear is slidably mounted on a reverse idler shaft to be brought into engagement with the drive and output gears. For selectively completing the reverse drive power path, the reverse shift mechanism acts to axially shift the idler gear toward and away from the drive and output gears. In use of the reverse shift mechanism, the operational feeling is greatly influenced by axial movements of the idler gear along the reverse idler shaft.